Carpet / Underlay

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testha

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Topic # 157479 2-Dec-2014 15:27

I moved into a old house recently and while a lot of insulation work (roof, double glassing, external walls) has already been done, the wooden floor is not insulated yet.

Under floor insulation is not an option as our house is build on rocks and there is only about 10 cm space under the house.

So I started looking into getting carpet with underlay, but to my surprise its bloody expensive to do so. In Europe you can get carpet from $10-$15 per square meter but here I cant find such options. I have done quite a bit of carpet installation myself and feel comfortable doing this myself.

What kind of underlay would be best for insulation? Is there a reasonable priced option out there?

Where can I get a good choice of carpet in the Wellington region that doesn't cost as much as a brand new kitchen to install?

Can you recommend any companies?

timmmay

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Reply # 1187190 2-Dec-2014 16:00

Buy underlay and carpet separately. Consider rubber underlay instead of foam. Carpet for my house was $10k max, 120 square meters with a high quality, thick solution dyed nylon. Preferred it to woll.

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mattwnz

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Reply # 1187210 2-Dec-2014 16:21

I believe you only lose around 10% of heat through the floor, so the cost benefit of insulation the floor is less. Some good carpet and good underlay will help a bit, but won't be as effective as polystyrene or batts. I would be a little worried though if there was only 10cm clearance under the floor, with rising damp. I thought the building code required a lot more clearance than that, I think it is 225mm

MikeB4

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Reply # 1187221 2-Dec-2014 16:39

It maybe cheaper to insulate and not carpet, have polished floors, certainly more healthier.

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testha

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Reply # 1187238 2-Dec-2014 17:04

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mattwnz: I believe you only lose around 10% of heat through the floor, so the cost benefit of insulation the floor is less. Some good carpet and good underlay will help a bit, but won't be as effective as polystyrene or batts. I would be a little worried though if there was only 10cm clearance under the floor, with rising damp. I thought the building code required a lot more clearance than that, I think it is 225mm

I dont think these building standards existed 100 years ago (:

There is enough circulation as the floor space isnt covered, but this also means that our beloved Southerly has direct access underneath our house and blows inside through the gaps in the wooden floor.

Niel

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Reply # 1187391 2-Dec-2014 19:58

Rubber underlay for sure. We went for thicker foam underlay and will not again. Foam is made from recycled stuff and there were a few hard pieces of plastic in it, so in a couple of places the carpet had to be lifted again to pick out the hard bits. I'd also imagine a foam underlay will be much better for insulation as it is closed cell, where as all the foam I've seen is open cell with a thin backing.

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gzt

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Reply # 1187422 2-Dec-2014 20:31

It is true underfloor insulation may be better in one sense but ooth you will still lose heat through your feet and whatever other body surfaces in contact with the cold floor. In some scenarios underlay and carpet alone may create a better environment than insulation alone.

richms

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Reply # 1187427 2-Dec-2014 20:37

Underfloor insulation made a huge impact on the feeling of warmth compared to the cieling which just meant that it cost less to keep the place warm.

See if you can get anything in there at all in the areas that matter the most - bathrooms, and where you are in bare feet.

If the wind is coming in thru the floor between the boards, then carpet will start to move up with each gust of wind, thats really annoying. You might be able to seal the gaps with something. I just put some silicone down some gaps here and squeegeed it into the gap, but there was some residue on the surface that made it really slippery for a while. Im sure there is a proper product for it.

Richard rich.ms